Congress Set the Stage for Today’s Tariff Mess 100 Years Ago
Against the wishes of the framers, the legislative branch delegated much of its own constitutional authority over setting import taxes.
It wasn’t meant to be this way.
Photographer: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images North AmericaDonald Trump loves tariffs, and he has not hesitated to wield them frequently, if not indiscriminately. He’s used duties to target almost every nation, only to roll many of them back. Yet each retreat has often been followed by more tariffs, rattling markets and trading partners.
It’s tempting to condemn this as more Trumpian excess, but Congress deserves a good share of blame for our current predicament. Over the past century, the legislative branch has delegated much of its own constitutional authority over tariffs in a misguided attempt to foster free trade. In the process, it set the stage for Trump’s reckless trade wars.